DENVER – The hard part of Ryan Strain's baseball season is over.
 
Metropolitan State University of Denver's second-year coach has brought in 21 new players since last season. Now, 2019 is set to start, with a three-game series at Cal State San Marcos that open with Friday's 2 p.m. MST game.
 
"The exciting part is that you've gotten to this point, and you've done all you can," Strain said. "Now we've just got to go out and play."
 
The Roadrunners, coming off a season in which they were 22-28 overall and 18-16 and tied for fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, have had to replace the top five hitters in their lineup from the end of last season.
 
Strain and his staff have done the best they could to make up for the losses of Donny Ortiz Jr. (.374, four homers, 43 RBIs, 1.032 OPS), Sean Kennedy (Aurora, CO/Grandview H.S.) (.322-4-31, .931), Hunter Donaldson (Fort Collins, CO/Fossil Ridge H.S.) (.274-4-46, .758), Trent Maloney (Castle Rock, CO/Douglas County H.S.) (.325-8-47, 1.025) and Cale O'Donnell (Fort Collins, CO/Rocky Mountain H.S.) (.288-6-21, .931).
 
Despite those losses, Strain said his team is at a point where there is quality competition around the diamond.
 
"It's a talented group, and I'm excited about them," Strain said. "I think we have good depth at every position. That's the good news. The tough part is that we have to make some tough decisions. But if you're going to have a good team, that's what it has to be."
 
One vital cog returning for the Roadrunners this season is preseason all-region pick Logan Soole (Louisville, Colo./Monarch), the team's top returning pitcher (5-2, 3.49 ERA, 54 strikeouts in 49 innings) and hitter (.318, five homers, 24 RBIs, .900 OPS).
 
"Logan is the most accomplished guy we have, both on the mound and as a hitter, and that's one of our challenges, too, to not wear him out," Strain said. "To ask him to play center field when he's not pitching, and to also pitch when he hits, that's a tough challenge. But we've tried to modify his work load during practice and to prepare him in a unique way compared to everybody else."
 
Soole is the probable starting pitcher for Friday's opener, and is otherwise expected to be the Roadrunners' everyday centerfielder.
 
Jake Kistaitis (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) is back and in the mix for playing time at first base, designated hitter and catcher after hitting .307 with an .821 OPS as a regular last season. Other full-time starters back in the fold are catcher Draven Adame (Lamar, Colo./Lamar) and shortstop Jimmy Holinger (Parker, Colo./Regis Jesuit), while outfielder Aaron Germani (Littleton, Colo./ThunderRidge) was a part-time starter last season and first baseman Dylan Nelson (Morrison, Colo./D'Evelyn) has made a strong bid for playing time.
 
Newcomers trying to get into the lineup include catchers Matt Malkin (Broomfield, Colo./Monarch) (a transfer from Alabama) and Andrew Chavez (Denver, Colo./Cherry Creek) (University of Nebraska at Kearney), infielders Ty Lightley (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) (Garden City, Kan., Community College), Zach Paschke (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) (freshman from Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Cade Peters (Stockton, Calif./St. Mary's) (UC Riverside) and Zach Walsh (Austin, Texas/Vista Ridge) (Santa Clara), and outfielders Chase Anderson (Littleton, Colo./Columbine) (Lamar CC), Eric Cox (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail) (redshirt freshman) and Owen Reynolds (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) (Lamar CC).
 
Malkin, Peters and Walsh are all Division I transfers. Malkin was a part-time starter for the Crimson Tide.
 
"I think we'll have a fun offense to watch," Strain said. "We've got some good hitters at the front of the lineup, at the back of the lineup we've got some guys who are going to be able to handle the bat and do some things, and in the middle of the order we've got some power guys. It's going to be my job to figure out how to put them all together."
 
Strain said he will look to expand upon the running game that he began developing last season.
 
"I want to push the envelope," Strain said. "I want to be able to steal bases, to be able to hit-and-run and move runners. With metal bats and playing in the RMAC, we're going to have to be able to score some runs, but the better we pitch and the better we play defense, it gives us a chance to maybe play some small-ball, score some runs without trying to go for the big inning every inning."
 
Speaking of pitching, behind Soole in the MSU Denver rotation this weekend is Javi Vega (Chula Vista, Calif./Castle Park), who was 2-6 with a 6.91 ERA last season after going 7-2 with a 4.54 ERA in 2017. Sunday's starter hasn't been determined.
 
"A lot will depend on what we do in the bullpen," Strain said. "A lot of those guys have a chance to start for us. Eventually we'll have to get to four starters, but there are going to be some times this year where we'll start a guy who is only going to go a few innings. We have good depth and we're going to utilize those guys, get their best bullets, and then get them out of there. We're not going to have four starters that we expect to go six or seven innings."
 
Cade Crader (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) was 3-5 with a 6.34 ERA last season while working primarily as a starter. In addition to Crader and the other returning hurlers, the Roadrunners also brought in multiple options to try to shore up the rotation and bullpen.
 
New additions include Carter Akerfelds (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) (Iowa Western CC), John Badgett (Arvada, Colo./Arvada West) (Southeastern Louisiana), TJ Egloff (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) (LSU-Shreveport), Taylor Petersen (Gilbert, Ariz./Highland) (LSU), Tyler Phillips (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) (Nebraska-Omaha), Gannon Reiswig (Austin, Texas/Vista Ridge) (Panola, Texas, College), Austin Stone (Arvada, Colo./Faith Christian) (Garden City, Kan., CC) and Zach Sundine (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) (Lamar CC)
 
"That was an emphasis in the recruiting process," Strain said. "We need to get better on the mound. It doesn't matter how well we hit, if we can't pitch and play defense we won't give ourselves a chance. In games against the good teams in our league, we're not going to be able to just outscore them. Pitchers are going to have to be able to step up and throw up some zeroes. Hopefully that's what we've done.
 
"We've got a lot of guys who I think have a chance to contribute, and it's really going to be up to them what their roles end up being. We'll give a lot of guys opportunities, and hopefully we can settle in on a group of nine or 10 of them who will get the bulk of the innings."
 
Strain said that Petersen, the LSU transfer, and Cox, also an outfielder, will likely be in the back end of the Roadrunners' bullpen to pitch in high-leverage situations.
 
This weekend's trip to Cal State San Marcos is the program's first journey to California since 2000. MSU Denver had been scheduled to play the Cougars next season, but a spot on this year's schedule opened up when the University of Nebraska at Kearney dropped its program and adjustments were made.
 
"It's exciting for us, for our program, for our guys," Strain said. "They've kind of been doing the same trips. We were fortunate enough to be able to raise some money to be able to do this."
 
Cal State San Marcos is picked to finish 10^th in the 12-team California Collegiate Athletic Association after going 20-30 overall last year, including 15-29 to tie for 10^th in the CCAA. Austin Ott is a preseason all-region selection as a centerfielder and pitcher after hitting .364 last year while also recording three saves.
 
"There's really good baseball out there, and San Marcos plays in one of the better Division II leagues in the country," Strain said. "They've got their whole rotation back and they return some pretty good position players. It's going to be a good challenge for us coming out of the gate, but that's what we want to do – play as many good teams as we can. San Marcos and Emporia (State) back-to-back on the road to start the season, that's a pretty good challenge for us."
 
Once league play begins, MSU hopes the preseason challenges will translate into a seasoned, highly-competitive team.
 
"Without having been in the RMAC before last year, a lot of coaches that I talked to thought it was one of the best years, top to bottom, that the league has had in over a decade," Strain said. "And that's good. Coaches in our league are doing a good job, working hard to bring in good players. It's going to be a challenge.
 
"Now you add Dixie State, who perennially has been awfully good. I would expect the league to be as good, if not better, than it was last year top to bottom, which is exciting. Hopefully we can play well early in the year and get some regional recognition and hopefully we can get two or three teams into the regional again this year."